Srirangam Vayyali Festival (Trichy - Tamil Nadu)

When I was at Srirangam we were lucky enough to witness 2 different festivities of Srirangam Temple. One of it was the Kona Vayyali! Vayyali is the horse vahanam of Ranganatha. Kona means zig zag. Kona Vayyali means the horse that runs zig zag.

Well, not a horse itself, its a horse shaped metal structure upon which the bronze idol of Ranganatha called Azhagiya Manavalan! Yes, the same bronze idol that travelled all over, as I said in an earlier post!!! See the blurry image? That's the speed in which he ran!!!!!

This happens during the 8th day of the 11 day fest in the end of January and also in the end of April. The Azhagiya Manavalan is brought on the horse, just outside the 3rd compound wall (the Ranga Ranga wall - the wall after which its purely temple).

Azhagiya Manavalan doesn't just come on the metal horse, but he comes with his flag bearers and elephant in front and back of him!!! First 4 dashes are done through the length of the street. After that comes the awesome dance or rather the Kona movement or the zig zag movement! Its utterly zig zag and I thought its so random!!! But its such a calculated movement that's runs utterly zigzag all over the street!!! Here's a video as Azhagiya Manavalan comes out of the temple on Vayyali! Check it out...

This begins at about 7:30 at night and after this, Azhagiya Manavalan settles down in the Kannadi Arai (Room of mirrors) for the night. The next day early morning at 6, he comes out to take a trip around the temple on the Temple Car called Thaer! Coming back soon with that in the next post...

Bhushavali N

An ardent traveler by passion. I am a wanderlust.. Read more about me here.

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